we to try and jeopardize that by making the border more than a political fact and turning it into something more serious you know i think it's damaging it's been devoted see the damages done to british irish relations which it hugely improved governmental level in the context of e.u. membership you can almost trace the improvement in relations to the day they both join the e.u. way back in january nine hundred seventy three you saw the contribution of the european union in terms of massive peace programs which benefited the situation in northern ireland now what you've got is the first really retrograde step that reinvade reinvigorates a border which has long been unpopular. and finally a professor of toll the prime minister has a divided cabinet the house of lords isn't revolt scotland and wales are not happy and the irish bar the issue is dominating all how long has the visa me got to come

up of a solution well time is ticking i mean the e.u. want to solve by june this year i suspect the latest the british government could push it back would be october. the government is getting defeated regularly in the house of lords fourteen amendments fourteen defeats for the government within one week some of very serious defeats i think it will be difficult for the government to reverse all of those defeats in the house of commons even with the piece of port frankly there are north conservatives who are pro membership retaining our membership of the customs union for them to inflict a defeat upon the government so for all the the bombast of the government's initial white paper which says we will be leaving the customs union i'm not sure there's a majority there in parliament for the government to get that through so the chances are the u.k. will remain part of the customs union will be unable to conduct these wonderful free trade deals that we were promised will retain you know

a lot about here insta the european union and in some ways it's the worst worst of all worlds we leave the e.u. we give up all the influence that we had within the european union and don't really again any influence or sovereignty ourselves then there's the issue of scotland and obviously the scottish parliament withholding legislative consent the first time that it's done for any westminster item and the embarrassment of that and you've got to remember that the bulk of scots did not vote for braggs it in the same way that the bulk of the northern irish did not vote for it and frankly there's been no respect given to out of those countries in terms of of the what they said in terms of break that referendum instead westminster's tried to steamroller. and you know it's got into ever greater difficulty in resolving these questions so ultimately we're looking at a scenario in which the brig's at sea is will not get their way i'm fairly clear i don't i also don't think they've got the power to bring down trees or may either

and what you have is a softer bragg's the what was originally envisaged professor john tong thing university of liverpool thank you so much for being on the alex salmond show my pleasure. summit or no summit that's the question north korea's threat of a no show when single for on june twelfth is a reminder to washington that north korea will not merely cave to american demands if there's going to be an agreement it's going to take time and patience. united states. and its tax on other

countries. economic sanctions are just the beginning another thing you like to do is play some military press countries are talking about. and there must be an effort to demonize that country and the leader of that country. we have a responsibility for the. weekend to make rules for the rest of. this without us there would be. welcome back to this break special where we're looking at a result mase customs union dilemma i'm joined by prominent labor member of parliament a pro but exit the someone of

a great interest in the irish issue welcome to the alex salmond true. liberal member of parliament with a strong and. what's your assessment of the recent customs union well i think she's getting herself into a bit of a mess because the arrangement customs arrangement she's absolute determined not to stay in the customs union but the customs arrangement is incredibly difficult and technical and has been very much ruined already by the e.u. and i think has been. probably a majority of m.p.'s so i think that i remember there is a border there in northern ireland that may not be seen but there's an excise border there's a border on the currency there's a border and all those kind of things and it's all dealt with remotely and doesn't have any physical structures to what extent has. been caught by surprise by strongly the irish board the issue has a marriage in the well it's been it's

a marriage because the irish government changed it's it's t. shock and the new t. shock has made this a big issue for his own political reasons and also because he wants to be seen very much as backing the e.u. the previous teashop was already involved in committees looking at technological solutions he stopped all that and i think because using the border not the belfast agreement good friday agreement as a way of trying to force the united kingdom into staying in the customs union which of course would be totally against everything that we voted for because if you stay in the customs union you don't have your access to trade you don't have to follow the e.u. law and you have to pay money so it's not leaving the e.u. but if you've been surprised by the extent to which the teacher has managed to marshal the entire negotiating team of the european union behind this cause i know i'm not surprised because the irish have always had a very very clever role in the e.u.

after all they got millions of millions of times over many years they're not beginning to become a net contributor and that might change the the attitude of the public but no i'm not surprised and the e.u. the commission and have seen the northern ireland border as a way again of trying to thwart i mean they really do think that if this keeps going on that eventually people will say let's have another referendum that is not going to happen and finally a cape if. you made a big. and then present something to the commons does she then we'll have a majority to overturn the pro customs union vote from the house of lords yes and the customs union vote in the house of lords was a very peculiar kind of wording it wasn't actually saying stay in the customs union but yes i think the more important one coming back to the lords of course is the date to keep the date in they took the date right and i'd be i would just say something that most people talk about that i think will be a lot more labor m.p.'s who will abstain and there were

a number of labor m.p.'s who abstained last time gets hardly noticed but after the council elections after what's happened up in leave areas i think we'll find that a lot of people will say we're not going to let the nords actually try to really give us an exit in name only but you're a liberal woman to your fingertips are you really going to come to the rescue of our beleaguered tory prime minister by becoming to the rescue of of the people of this country who voted to leave no no ifs and buts to leave and also i think to help jeremy corbett who has stuck very in a very difficult situation to what was in our manifesto and what he knows is long term the right thing for this country thank you so much thank you. that was kate hoey demonstrating that probiotics of use i'm not confined to the tory benches and that northern ireland unionist views are not confined to the do you p.c. this is what the prime minister had to say on the issue of this week we want to

ensure that we are able to continue to trade in this frictionless away as possible and the suggestion now the suggestion the suggestion that trade at the moment is entirely frictionless is actually not correct we have set we have set three very simple objectives through future customs you know i will say to this house that achieving those objectives which i just such out is not is not easy it is difficult . so what we saw here will say actually forget about an independent trade policy that is not the position of this government. so maybe start. to worry about the overall risk or what that is not a position. that was to these are mere prime minister's questions yesterday i'm not trying to the studio by should say member of the european parliament. and welcome to the exam i'm sure martina the lady to be here thank you for having me on but i

wonder so hold out not just in film but i've been really successful in getting the european parliament members did european commission to to support our own subject in the brics of negotiations on them. well i would actually say that it has been contained it's been in that it's about the irish government and also the european parliament and the kind still understand the importance of the good friday agreement an international agreement that's large that the united nations and the european parliament has a duty and an obligation to uphold international treaties and the county anything that's going to facilitate the damage of some of the knowledge was that of the good friday agreement among you know the hundreds of european parliament period absolutely no i have to say that other than the fact in fairness to the any piece of but they're all of them seen it in the context of the peace accord handshake and

when we went on the diplomatic offensive and almost leading up to the referendum because norm is talking about ireland and everyone was talking about scotland everyone was talking about scotland join the debate and even the british government like we were an afterthought even i don't even think we were an afterthought that said we went on a diplomatic offensive trying to ensure that we could jar near a support for the remain fault and we did that in the north but then after the referendum martin mcguinness led that of. once of for us in the european parliament and we met with hundreds and hundreds of m e p's i personally have sat i'm with them all and when the first resolution came to the parliament after article fifty was triggered i am one of the lead negotiators for the left on bracks it for the group where a member of and i resisted are signed up to the joint resolution unless and until we secured that it would protect the good friday agreement in all of its parts that

there would be no hardening of the border in ireland and the unique and special circumstances were taken in their kind in fairness when the five hundred sixteen m. e p's folded for that of course the parliament those that didn't consisted of the two your other unionists and me please ukip and british conservatives but all of the other parliamentary piece of where there they supported it but they didn't really understand what all of its parts meant so i took from april until the second resolution and tobar knocking on any piece doors and that was one of the reasons why when we first knocked at the doors we asked them for support for a designated special status for the north to remain within the first is the problem for your producers that we're there for you and really lam went to them and because they didn't understand the different strands of the agreements with says here is my good friday agreement because unionism and the british government was saying that the e.u. didn't feature in the good friday agreement well it's actually features fifteen

times they are to the agreement i made your opinion were you able to convince people that breaks it was by jeopardizing the good friday agreement was professionally produced with preset risk when you yourself were released from prison as a result of the good friday agreement well i think someone like myself personifies what we as irish republicans how much not just that we have stretched ourselves but what we have done through this peace and political process that we have been engaged in and i think people could see where we're at. where we're at and where we intend to go and there was to be no damage done to the agreement and the second resolution of the parliament the parliament was very clear and the parliament folded not just for the good friday agreement of protection and all of its part but it also said that if britain did not rate remain in the custom union in the single market that the north needed to in some form so the parliament at that time there were five hundred sixty m. e p's and that's because they understood that we couldn't have to diverge in

standards of european regulations in an island if they were going to pursue their strand to be all ireland element of the good friday agreement so overwhelming support for ireland not just in the parliament but also in the kinds of as well the chief constable of navarre and said recently that if there's any physical infrastructure or the board of them up becomes a potential target for terrorists or do you agree with the war's over. and we need to be clear about that and there is no support whatsoever in ireland north or sorry for return to conflict that said we shouldn't ignore want the chief constable has sent and what we need to do is ensure that there are no circumstances created that would allow anyone to explore to situation the british government as a coal garant or of a peace process as the irish government and its lords to the united nations and so when the british government said in the joint report in december that there would

be no physical infrastructure no checks no controls at the border at all and ireland that they would do that with a backstop arrangement if they didn't have the other two options and they haven't secured those so far and the backstop was going to ensure that we would have full alignment with the custom union of the single market for the island for the north that we would do so to support the erisa cooperation in ireland as well as that we would also support the good friday agreement and the all around economy but most importantly and no one's really talking about it apart from shin fame but they will there will be no diminution of our rights have been no reduction of russian from the war is over the war is over of that there is no doubt and the republican movement and ireland that has got support for a drive in the peace and political process and chin fein i under the leadership of our president mary lee make government will be driving forward

a scenario for irish unity done so in a way based on the principle of consent the principle of consent was built into the good friday agreement and up with something that we all have to be very clear by the constitutional position of the north should not change unless we consent to it or we didn't consent to this folder to remain within the law two hundred thank you very much indeed thank you. two years ago during the european referendum campaign in any one of the black city years gave a second thought to what was going to happen to ireland if they achieve that ambition and a majority and not after the end of last thought it would be the stumbling block to their ambitions but that is no exactly what has happened to these i'm a doesn't have our problems to see she has a split cabinet the laws are revolting scotland and wales are deeply unhappy but it is the irish issue and the issue of the irish border which is transcending the

negotiations the european union had three objectives when they started to negotiate in process one was to make sure that britain paid its jews to was to protect the rights of european citizens they have been achieved and the thought was to make sure there was no border and island and i had no doubt two years ago when campaigning in delhi. was incompatible with a soft border and ireland and that chicken is no well and truly. perhaps not for the first time in british politics what chuck show called the steeples of tyrone have a man's to dominate the landscape because whatever else to these army has to worry about there is no doubt that that island beyond the island island of ireland now has the key cards in the negotiations.

i can tell you i have killed thirteen people with missile strikes and there are one thousand six hundred and twenty six unnamed enemies that were killed in all the missions that i completed and i know that i know that for a fact and i know each of these persons was a human being they had a family they had friends they had lives and we ended them the possibilities are endless. americans are free trade country is not a capitalist country. believing in competition it's a monopolist country that believes in monopolization and they like to use the dollar as their bludgeon to beat people into submission and if you try to get out

of the dollar whether it's syria iraq libya or iran but just actually said they're getting out of the dollar to go to europe you get a bump bump bump bump bump bump bump bump bump bump bump like because of dollars collateralized by filing ultraviolence. in twenty four to you know bloody revolution to to correct the demonstrations going from being relatively peaceful political protests to be increasingly violent revolution is always spontaneous or is it you know we hear i mean you know i was put to do it through me in the neighbor lose out on the school in the middle of the former ukrainian president recalls the events of twenty fourteen. of those who took boat has invested over five billion dollars to assist ukraine in these and other goals that will ensure a secure and prosperous and democratic. the

u.s. senate confirms gina hospital as the new head of the cia despite widespread concerns about her role in the torture of terror suspects. who actually have a good relationship issue mean we have the meeting and assume if something comes of it and he'll get protections that will be very strong. donald trump urges north korea to strike a deal with the u.s. after pyongyang threatens to council a summit sched jewel to june. how europe prepares legal action to protect firms from u.s. sanctions in a bid to say if iran nuclear deal. this

is r.t. international coming to you live from moscow and take partridge thank you for joining us. gina haskell has become the first woman to lead the cia after being approved by the u.s. senate donald trump's nominee won the support of almost all republicans and half a dozen democrats despite her controversial career and role in torturing terrorist suspects there are two reasons that i oppose this nomination miss haskel support for torture and her willingness to destroy evidence of the cia's use of torture is housecall offered possibly the latest confirmation conversion in history sixteen years after she first learned about the torture program and only just before a vote on her confirmation earlier. we should let it.

take steps toward to have it happen again. as for the reason. i hope. this has been going to shoot well even after the commerce controversy the final vote was fifty four yes and forty five nays and this comes a week after she faced some tough questions from the senate intel committee regarding her role in the cia's torture program but she never really gave a direct answer check it out do you believe the program in terms that you can target program was consistent with american values we have decided to hold ourselves to a stricter moral standards are they consistent with american values senator i believe very strongly in american values i want to trust that you have the moral compass that you said you have i have conducted myself honorably in accordance with u.s. law do you believe that the previous interrogation techniques were immoral what i believe sitting here today is that i support the higher moral standard we have

decided to hold ourselves to answer the question. and i think i've answered the question i have not a few democrats who harshly criticized her questionable history with the cia voted for her anyway and according to the american civil liberties union hassle overseed torture that included chaining detainees to ceilings for days slamming them into walls simulated drowning and deprivation of food and sleep but lo and behold she was confirmed by the senate anyway we should also look at the bigger picture we have john bolton as trump's national security advisor mike pompei o as secretary of state and now it's you know house bill as cia director so as far as u.s. foreign policy goes we can't be too sure we will see. former cia analyst john kiriakou believes the democratic party's failure to build councils appointment shows a crisis within the party. but we saw in the senate today was a collapse among democrats

a collapse in democratic leadership you know how hard it's going to be to convince our european allies that it's ok to have a torturer as the director of the cia what's the united states going to do when when the german federal prosecutor for example follows through with his recommendation that charges be filed against you know has used for crimes against humanity how can you have a cia director that's not permitted to go to europe because she has serious felony charges hanging over her head this is something that the democrats could have seized on and they had the support of john mccain and they had the support of jeff flake junior senator from arizona and they did nothing with it we were looking for leadership on the anti haskell side from the likes of mark warner the senior senator from virginia who is also the vice chairman of the senate intelligence committee and he flip flopped and decided after saying all these things about you know hassle and how terrible it was what she did that she should never have destroyed the tapes and then when it really came down to it he voted yes that was

a complete abdication of leadership among the democrats well meanwhile the u.s. president is urging north korea to dismantle its nuclear program donald trump claims north korea can become very rich if it agrees to washington's demands that's ahead of a summit between the countries need to shed. we make a deal i think kim jong un is going to be very very happy i really believe he's going to be very happy and he'll get protections that will be very strong his country would be very rich is people are tremendously industrious if you look at south korea this would be really a south korean model in terms of their industry in terms of what they do the hard work an incredible people you have to remember that for the last several decades donald trump has been very well known as a businessman he actually wrote a book a best selling book called the art of the deal so we shouldn't be surprised to see donald trump out front promising all kinds of riches to north korea if they agree

to his deal and furthermore we shouldn't be surprised with him indicating that things might not be so rosy if they don't go along with it this is another statement we've heard from donald trump and i think when john bolton made that statement. yeah i think that's what denuclearization means and we have very much in mind the libyan model from two thousand and three two thousand and four he was talking about if we're going. to be having a problem because we cannot let that country have nukes we just can't do it the model if you look at that model with gadhafi that was a total disarray should we went in there to beat him now that model would take place if we don't make a deal most likely now libya by bringing that up that's certainly a threat now libya was the most prosperous country on the african continent until two thousand and eleven the government was overthrown and the country has been in

a state of civil war ever sense you know people are fleeing it's just in utter chaos so bringing that up is certainly you know using both the carrot and the stick as some would say now we've recently heard north korea threatening to pull out of the negotiations over the provocative military exercises that are taking place in south korea you have u.s. forces there there are essentially a rehearsal according to north korea for invading north korea and the united states kim jong un and donald trump you know playing a hard negotiation game in the lead up to this planned meeting hopefully resolving the crisis on the peninsula so the whole world is watching them waiting to see what happens next. the european union is taking steps to counteract u.s. sanctions against that deal with iran the president of the commission shone through and young has called for a so-called blocking statute to be imposed. as the

european commission we have the duty to protect european companies so we now need to act and this is why we're launching the process of activating the blocking statute from one thousand nine hundred six we will do that tomorrow morning at ten thirty start off with just what is the blocking statute well it's the strongest weapon in the e.u.'s legislative arsenal when it comes to tackling sanctions placed upon businesses and entities from the european union the law itself goes back to one thousand nine hundred six it's never been acted but the closest it ever came into operation was back in ninety six when the u.s. was considering placing sanctions on european businesses importing things and doing trade with cuba what we are going to see is that on ten thirty on friday morning a really written version of this law specifically for the current situation regarding the threat of sanctions against businesses who will continue to trade with iran what may have been but final straw and pushing the european commission

towards implementing the blocking start shit may well have been these words from the french petrochemicals giant to tell saying they weren't sure whether they were willing to risk sanctions by the u.s. will not be in a position to continue the project and will have to on wind all related or bridge before for november twenty eighth seen on list total is granted a specific project by the u.s. authorities with the support of the french and european authorities speaking at a summit of e.u. leaders in saffir the french president emmanuel mccann vowed to protect european business but is a fear that we will work to maintain the framework of the twenty fifteen deal in spite of the american decision and we will do so in a concrete manner by maintaining our political engagements by ensuring that our companies can stay in iran and also by getting all parties to pursue negotiations for a larger. indispensable deal but despite the words from politicians in the action

of implementing the blocking statute that still hasn't stopped other companies from already saying it they weren't going to do any more trade in iran we've seen ali answer the german ensuring giant say they were going to pull out they also alongside the danish shipping company maersk the pull out by donald trump from the iran deal that unilateral decision to take the u.s. out of the iran nuclear deal that really has soured relations between some of europe's leading leaders if you will and got merkel said just this week that europe was at a crossroads when it came to its relationship with the u.s. it certainly seems if it continues down this route it's a route that doesn't bring washington or brussels closer together donald trump is testing the patience of the european union and the u.s. needs to understand another part of the international community and they call just .